Planet earth began about four and a half billion years ago. Since then, God has made two implants, which changed earth forever. The first implant was life. The second implant was spirit. I will introduce each implant with a limerick.
First: There was a young lady name Bright
Who traveled much faster than light.
She took off one day
In a relative way
And returned the previous night.
What delights me about this limerick is that it suggests that there is something much faster than light, and that is God’s precious gift to us, our imagination.
In your imagination, come with me back to planet earth four and a half billion years ago. As we swing into orbit, we will see a most unfamiliar sight – a molten ball of red hot lava – absolutely uninhabitable. So let’s fast forward two billion years when our planet has cooled down, somewhat. It’s still too hot for us to handle, with steam belching out all over, and the atmosphere is primarily a deadly methane gas. As we survey our planet, we see no trees, no mountains, no animals, not even any cell phones. We might wonder, “is it possible that there could ever be life in this God-forsaken place?”
Well, here’s the first news flash: in all of its four and a half billion years, planet earth has never been forsaken by God – for whom a thousand years in his sight is but as a moment past.
Then, one day, God reached down to planet earth, took a tiny pinch of soil, rubbed it, and put a microscopic Saran wrap around it. Thus, God created the first living cell, and that life was so vital, that in an hour it cloned into two identically same cells. An hour later, those two cells split into four. And so it went for twenty-four hours, and there were: sixteen million, seven hundred seventy-seven thousand, two hundred and sixteen cloned, identical cells. This cloning went on for one billion years. The little rascals gobbled up carbon dioxide, and spat out oxygen, which helped to fill the atmosphere with oxygen, until it became breathable.
After the billion years were up, one little guy cell said to one little gal cell, “Let’s get it together.” They did, and a third cell was born. That was the beginning of sex, and it went on for another billion years. And in that time, an incredible variety of cells formed. Just six hundred million years ago those cells gathered into shells, bones, hair, flesh, trees, leaves, and a multitude of life forms. In these past six hundred million years, all that is familiar to us evolved, including human beings. Genesis 2;7: “then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” In Hebrew and Greek, “breath” is a synonym for “spirit”.
God’s second injection into planet earth was Spirit, as I propose in this second limerick:
An ancient ambitious amoeba
By the innocent called little Oeba,
Was enthused by the juice
That the heavens set loose,
So she finally became Queen of Shoeba.
I wrote this limerick in 1949 when I was in college – fifty-nine years ago. But it was not until day before yesterday – Friday – that I realized what is the most significant word: ENTHUSED. “Enthusiasm” comes from the Greek which means “inspired by God” – “possessed by God”. My Heritage Dictionary says, “a rapturous interest or excitement”.
At this point, I would like to make a bet. I will bet that every person here has something that turns you on. It could be stamps, garden plants, ball games, cars, or even chocolate. Whatever it is you really like, it is possible for you to like it because you have a little bit of God’s spirit implanted in you. Without spirit, there could be no enthusiasm whatever.
Now, I will see you, and raise you ten. God is enthusiastic. God has a rapturous love and excitement about something. Can you guess what it is? Well, it’s you. God loves you so enthusiastically that he gave his only begotten Son that you might believe in him and have everlasting life. Jesus loves you so enthusiastically, that he took the nails on the cross for you, and came through the tunnel of resurrection so you might share eternal life with Him and with the Father.
Now, here is God’s message for you: [pause] “Open your heart,
and let God’s enthusiastic love pour into your life. That’s an order.”
No comments:
Post a Comment